Chapter Eleven:

Trouble on The Road

Palou was barely able to breathe.

He'd been locked in the trunk, surrounded by shadow, leather, and metal for who knew how long, and the Pianta found himself feeling pale, and probably very close to hyperventilating. He wanted out so badly, he'd been trying to get himself untied for a while. If anything, he was glad to have plenty of air seeping through the cracks.

By this point, the ropes were loosening after, well, so much struggle. It was just unthinkable that the scummy Bob Bobowski would keep him hostage like this, and Palou had faintly heard Bob giving the car to Mario.

He was inching closer to the breaking point. It drove him insane. The Pianta crook was not about to lay around in the back of a gosh-darned car while the famed Inkling-turned human Splatfest star Meggy Spletzer was using it to get to a graduation.

And this was when the ropes began to unbind a little, and Palou flexed his now freed arm as he lost his grip upon any sense of calm.

The Pianta was sweating, and he really, really, really needed air. And he could feel his lungs shrink a little. He felt a jolt, the car rolling over a bump, and he fought to contain a grunt. Palou raised his arm, and struck the roof above him with a light thump, then he began to bang it a little harder.

The sun gleamed upon the hood of the car while shining off the rearview mirror at one point. Meggy gripped the wheel steadily, while Tari sat next to her, and Mario quietly sat in the back. The sight of a grown man taking the back seat was a little questionable, but, given how crazy the fat Italian was, it wasn't out of the ordinary to treat him as a kid sometimes.

Meggy heard clanking sounds, and felt something hit her foot, which had been happening for a little while since she left the neighborhood. The former Inkling looked down, and saw empty alcohol bottles rolling around in the spot where the pedals were.

'That's funny. It's like someone has been using this car.' She looked over at Mario, "So, I couldn't help but notice this is a new car. What gives, Mario?"

"Oh, Bob gave it to me." Mario told her, summing up what had happened earlier.

"Okay." Meggy said cautiously.

She focused on the road again, ignoring the empty bottles, but was distracted again when the trio heard a thumping sound. Meggy raised an eyebrow, there had to be something really off about the car here.

"What was that?" She asked.

"Maybe the car's hungry." The dim-witted Mario replied, "It could be alive."

The banging got louder, and they heard a shouting noise. Meggy hit the break and the car halted on the road, in the middle of the Mushroom Kingdom countryside. She, Tari, and Mario stepped out, listening to the banging noises. The sound was getting louder by the second, and the car seemed to be shaking.

Meggy and Tari listened closely, and on further investigation, the girls found out the banging came from the trunk. Mario stepped in and suggested, "It's probably a squirrel."

"LET ME OUT!" Someone screamed, "LET ME OOOUUUUUT!"

"Oh, a talking squirrel." Mario rephrased.

'Really, Mario?' Meggy moved to open the trunk. However, Tari, nervous as usual, stepped in the former Inkling's way, slightly annoying the beanie human in the process.

"A-Are you sure you really want to do that?" The cyborg asked.

"I'm going to be late." Meggy groaned, "Let's get this over with."

She opened the trunk, and stepped back in shock when she saw a yellow-colored Pianta tied up inside. The Pianta wore strange clothes that made him look like a mafia member, and the group didn't know how long he'd been stuck inside.

The suspicious yellow trunk captive threw the ropes off, and leaped out of the car before running for it while screaming. Tari yelped too, and started running away, as if she were joining a new friend.

Meggy closed the hood, flabbergasted by what was even happening, and she glared at Mario. That pudgy plumber was known for stirring up all sorts of trouble, and had landed her and the others in sticky situations many times in the past, even though he'd more or less made up for it by helping Meggy and the rest of the gang during certain situations.

"I swear Mario didn't know!" The red-blue plumber said defensively.

"Honestly, I would like to investigate." Meggy commented with a sigh, "But... I really need to get to my graduation."

Focused on making it to Omnia, the former Inkling inspected her watch and was about to get back in the car, then she saw Tari standing near a tree on the side of the road, staring up at a white-colored cat.

"Come on, Tari! We got to go!" Meggy called.

Tari looked back at her friend. "But, Meggy! We can't leave this cat up there!" She said with a slight whimper, "Look how cute he is!"

"Okay, well, get it down and let's go!" An annoyed Meggy told the cyborg urgently.

Tari began her rescue mission. She grabbed the tree and started climbing, only to wind up sliding down. The cat meowed as it watched the blue-haired girl coming for her, but Tari's efforts were useless. To add to how weak she seemingly was, the timid gamer couldn't jump as high as Mario could.

And she wasn't strong enough, even when she tried to lift the tree out of the ground.

"Hang on, Tari! Mario will help!" Mario called, and he threw a grenade he had in his inventory, "Take the tree down with this!"

Moments before the explosive landed near the tree, Tari dove out of the way to avoid getting hurt. Mario made sure to remove the safety pin before he threw it, and the grenade exploded as it made contact with the tree's roots. The tree collapsed onto the street next to the fat Italian, and the cat landed safely on the ground on it's paws.

Unbeknownst to the group, Palou had made his way to a nearby gas stop and picked up a siphon hose. While Mario and Tari were trying to get the cat out of the tree, the Pianta returned to the spot with the device in hand, popped open the filler, and inserted the nozzle inside.

'Let this be a lesson to you, Bobowski.' Palou thought.

He was 98 percent finished with draining the gas when Meggy got back in the car. "Alright!" She announced happily, "Graduation, here I..."

The engines sputtered out and the former Inkling popped out to see Palou in the midst of siphoning all of the gas from the car. The rogue Pianta pulled back the siphon and proclaimed, "This is what you get, Bob!"

And he took off running.